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Silverbacks Fall 5-1 to Smoke Eaters

Trail, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks lost to the Trail Smoke Eaters 5-1 on Friday night at Cominco Arena.

The Silverbacks now have a record of 29-23-5, tied with Vernon at 63 points, but the Vipers (30-24-3) hold the tie-breaker, so they sit in fourth place right now. Both teams have one game remaining this season, while the Wenatchee Wild (30-23-4) are in third place with 64 points, also with one game left.

GAME SUMMARY

It was an even first period of play at even-strength, but the Smoke Eaters struck first on a power play 7:55 into the period. Chase Dafoe was uncontested in front of the Backs’ net and tipped home Michael Colella’s wrist shot from the point just 10 seconds into Trail’s first power play of the game.

Just 43 seconds later, Braden Costello potted home a bouncing puck in the slot area to double the home side’s lead to 2-0.

The Backs had a couple decent chances in the first period, but only managed seven shots in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second period, the Smoke Eaters added to their lead on another power play. At the 5:27 mark, Dafoe scored his second of the game after a pass intended to go cross-ice was partially intercepted and landed right in front, where he smoothly spun around and chipped the puck over Adams and into the back of the net to make it 3-0.

Salmon Arm had two power play opportunities to start the third, but couldn’t capitalize on either.

Things got a little out of hand during the Backs third power play of the period, after forward Logan Shaw was handed a five minute major for boarding Trail defenceman Trevor Isaksson. Twelve seconds later, Smoke Eaters forward was given a double-minor for spearing Nick Unruh. On the ensuing 4-on-3 power play, Salmon Arm got to within two goals thanks to a power play rocket from Luke Mylymok, who made the score 3-1 with 7:36 remaining in the third.

Trail would put things out of reach just a couple minutes later with two goals in a 36-second span. First Jaden Senkoe used a burst of speed to get a partial breakaway and beat Grant Adams with a backhander. Dafoe then completed the hat-trick to make it 5-1 with under five minutes to go in the game.

In the end, the Backs surrendered three power play goals and were out-shot 36-22.

For the full boxscore, click here.

THEY SAID IT

“I felt like we were just a little bit lackadaisical out of the gate. That’s two slow starts in a row. It’s one of the things we emphasized  going into it, was that we needed to be good off the hop. I think we kind of let ourselves down there by not getting off to a good start. They were able to capitalize on some lucky breaks, but there weren’t a lot of chances through the first 40 minutes of the game…I think we needed to push harder in the second period to generate more offensively. Didn’t get a chance in the second period and to go in that period down 2-0, that was where we were able to take over the game in Chilliwack. Just felt like we were missing that extra step tonight. I felt like we were a little bit behind and it’s disappointing with how big of a game it is. No excuses and at the day we need to be better. It just felt like we really let one slip.” – Silverbacks assistant coach Carter Cochrane

WHAT’S NEXT

It’s time for one last regular season game — a game that will determine who the Silverback’s first round playoff opponent is.

It all wraps up Sunday at the Shaw Centre, when Salmon Arm hosts the Merritt Centennials at 3 p.m. Following the game, the Backs will be handing out individual player awards in a ceremony at centre ice, so make sure you stick around after the game!

All games this season can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game shows starting half an hour before puck drop. Fans can also stream games on HockeyTV.